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For CPE Sponsors

ACCREDITATION

Approval of the Board of Paralegal Certification is NOT required for any activity that has been approved for continuing legal education (CLE) credit for State Bar members by the North Carolina State Bar Board of Continuing Legal Education.

APPLICATION

To apply for continuing paralegal education (CPE) credit for a course, presentation, or program, a sponsor must complete and submit a Sponsor's Request for Approval of a CPE Activity form to the Board of Paralegal Certification at least 45 days prior to the date on which the activity is scheduled.

The sponsor must indicate on the form the number and type of credits requested. See the content and time requirements below.

CONTENT AND TIME REQUIREMENTS

An approved CPE activity must have significant intellectual or practical content and the primary objective of increasing the participant's professional competence and proficiency as a paralegal. The activity must constitute an organized program of learning and be presented by an individual or group qualified by practical or academic experience.

  1. 60 minutes are required to equal one CPE credit hour. Only the time of actual instruction counts toward CPE credit hours.
  2. Question and answer sessions are considered actual instruction and may be included for CPE credit.
  3. A CPE activity must be at least 30 minutes in length. However, a program may include individual topics of less than 30 minutes in length.
  4. CPE credit, when converted from minutes to hours, will be rounded down to the nearest quarter-hour.
  5. CPE credit is not given for:
    • introductory remarks and breaks
    • speeches in connection with a banquet or other events that are primarily social
    • programs on personal development or marketing, or demonstrations intended to sell a product.
  6. Instruction on professional responsibility/ethics/professionalism may not include topics such as fees, client development, communication skills, etc., except to the extent that professional responsibility is directly discussed in connection with such topics.
  7. All activities, including computer programs, must be either live or interactive. No credit will be given for self-study. Video presentations must be scheduled for a minimum of three paralegals or lawyers.
  8. In-house continuing education (i.e., that is not open and advertised to paralegals and lawyers outside the law firm/company) does not qualify for CPE credit.

FEE

An accreditation fee of $75 is charged for the approval of a course for CPE credit. This fee is due at the time of application. The accreditation fee is only due once in a 12-month period for any course that is presented multiple times (either in live format or as a video or other electronic replay) during the 12-month period.

No fee is charged to an individual certified paralegal seeking approval for a course that has not previously been accredited. However, if five or more certified paralegals apply for approval of the same course, the sponsor may be required to pay the $75 accreditation fee.

FORMATS

CPE activities may be presented in the following formats:

  • live programming, with presenters and attendees on-site
  • live audio only (telephone)
  • live video conference
  • live satellite
  • webcast
  • interactive computer program (online or on-demand)
  • prerecorded video replay for which a minimum of three paralegals (or lawyers) are registered.